


Like Silver in the Sun

by devilinthedetails



Series: The Dog, His Songbird, and His Urchins [3]
Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Bargains, Business, Deals, Family, Gen, negotiation, profit - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 09:51:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15022028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: Truda negotiates the price of her and her brother's work with the Dogs.





	Like Silver in the Sun

Like Silver in the Sun

When Truda returned from the market swinging in the crook of her arm a basket heavy with the eggs and vegetables Okha had ordered her to fetch, she heard voices rising and falling like waves in the dining room. 

“Don’t swing the basket when there are eggs in it, girl,” scolded Okha, snatching the basket off Truda’s elbow and setting it safely on the counter before Truda could inflict any damage on the eggs. “You’ll break them.” 

Before Truda could apologize, Okha thrust a tray laden with a flagon of mead and three tankards into her hands, nudging her toward the dining room with a soft shove between her shoulder blades. “Nestor wants you in the dining room serving mead soon as you get back from the market. Some Dogs might have some work for you and your scapegrace of a brother.” 

“Yes, Okha.” Truda’s eyes glinted at the mention of working for the Dogs, since that usually meant tips from Nestor for her delivering his messages silent as a mouse or for Haden trailing a target with eyes sharp as a hawk’s. Nothing made a gixie from the streets shine as much as silver did. 

“Ah, Truda.” Nestor glanced up from his conversation with a mot and cove in Dog uniforms as Truda appeared in the dining room. “I see you’re back from the market.” 

“Yes, sir.” Truda poured a hearty amount of mead into each tankard, setting them in front of Nestor and his guests, before placing the flagon in the center of the table within reach of all the drinkers. “I heard ye had more work for me than just servin’ mead.” 

“It’s not me with the work exactly.” Nestor lifted his tankard to his lips. “Some Dogs from my kennel have jobs for you and your brother if you’ll accept them.” 

Truda was about to reply that she and Haden would take on any job if the price was right but was cut off before she could begin when the cove in the Dog uniform studied her speculatively. “This the little gixie who runs messages for you, Nestor?” 

“She’s the one,” Nestor confirmed, smiling into the rim of his tankard as if the Dog’s skepticism amused him as much as it miffed Truda. “She’s quiet and quick as a mouse. Her brother is the one who trails people for me. He’s never lost a target for me yet or been spotted by one.” 

“Of course she’s quiet as a mouse.” The mot in the Dog uniform sounded even more dubious than the cove had, and Truda, spine stiffening, wished she still had the flagon of mead to dump over them to quench their disbelief. She might be small but she shouldn’t be underestimated by those who had never had to survive on the streets as she had. “She’s tiny as one.” 

“The better to slip through the streets unnoticed.” Nestor’s punctuated his remark with a decisive clink of his tankard as he returned it to the table. “I assure you that she and her brother can accomplish any task that you have for her. They are the best eyes, ears, and legs I’ve ever had in the city.” 

“If the coin is in it, sir,” Truda added, determined not to be shy as a mouse when she negotiated the price of her and Haden’s services with these Dogs. 

“The coin is always in it when you work for the Dogs.” Nestor grinned at her. “You know that, Truda.” 

“Me brother and I will want a piece of silver each for every day that we work for ye with an extra silver piece paid in advance when ye hire us.” Truda ignored Nestor as she riveted her gaze on the unknown mot and cove in Dog uniforms as she began the process of negotiating her and Haden’s price.

“That’s a steep price.” The mot whistled through her teeth. 

“Me brother and I are the best at what we do, and we take pride in that.” Truda bared her teeth like a hound chasing a scent in a gesture she was confident the Dogs would know how to interpret. “No profit in bein’ the best unless ye can command the steepest prices.” 

“If you deliver messages as good as you talk, you’ll be worth every copper.” The cove chuckled, and Truda wasn’t certain whether she should be appeased or annoyed by his jocularity. Slipping a silver coin between her fingers, he went on, “Very well. One silver coin in advance, and two silver coins when you finish the job. Report to Nestor’s kennel at dawn tomorrow to learn what work we have for you and your brother.” 

“Yes, sir.” Truda bit into the silver for luck and for the comfort of tasting that it wasn’t a cole. “Pleasure doin’ business with ye.” 

When the cove and mot had finished their farewells to Nestor and taken their leave of his lodgings, Truda arched an eyebrow at him. “Will ye be wantin’ a portion of Haden’s and my earnings when we do work for the Dogs, sir?” 

Some masters, Truda remembered, wanted the lion’s chunk of any money their servants made when hired out to anyone else. Truda, still unaccustomed to being in anyone’s service, had forgotten to negotiate Nestor’s cut into her deal with the Dogs. She hoped Haden wouldn’t be too wroth with her when he returned from a tailing a suspect for Nestor. 

“When you and Haden entered my service, I believe our bargain was that you two could keep the tips you made from any work you did for the Dogs.” As Nestor helped her stack the tray with the flagon and tankards of mead, it occurred to Truda those weren’t the exact terms she and Haden had agreed to with Nestor when they came to live under his roof, but she wasn’t going to argue with his generosity. After all, one of her few memories of Da was him telling her to never look a gift horse in the mouth. Truda had to be suspicious as a snake in the streets but in Nestor and Okha’s house she could lower her guard. “We’ll consider what you and your brother earn working for the Dogs as those tips. Does that sound fair?” 

“Aye, sir.” Truda gathered the tray from the table and turned to carry it into the kitchen. “More than fair, thank ye.” 

“Oh, and Truda.” Nestor tugged on the tip of her brown braid to grab her attention. As she spun around to tilt her head inquisitively up at him, she could see approval twinkling like starlight in his eyes. “Well-negotiated. You drive a hard bargain for a girl who barely comes up to my waist.” 

Truda rolled her eyes at the comment on her height but inside she glowed at his praise like silver in the sun.


End file.
